Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Will Violence Doom Middle East Peace Process?
Aired June 11, 2003 - 08:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Talking about violence and will it doom the Middle East peace process almost as soon as it was started. Hundreds of Palestinian protesters took to the streets yesterday after a pair of Israeli helicopter attacks. Palestinian sources said that the attacks killed five and injured dozens more.
White House Spokesman Ari Fleischer says President Bush is concerned.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The issue for the president is in the hopeful moments after Aqaba and in the hopeful moments leading up to Aqaba, neither party can afford to take actions that derail the road map, because it's too important to the peace and security and the well being of the Israeli people and the Palestinian people. And that's why the president finds this deeply troubling.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: With us now from Cairo is Stephen Cohen of the Israel Policy Forum.
He has been meeting with leaders on both sides.
Mr. Cohen, welcome.
Thank you for being with us.
STEPHEN COHEN, ISRAEL POLICY FORUM: Good afternoon.
KAGAN: As I understand it, you are fresh out of meetings with Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, also the son of Ariel Sharon.
What did you take out of the meetings with these men?
COHEN: What is clear is that despite the president's initiative in going to Aqaba and going to bring together these leaders, there's still a big gap between them. The Israeli view is that until the Palestinians take concrete actions on the security issue, they are not going to take responsibility for doing their part of the action. And on the other hand, the prime minister of the Palestinians basically, in the most sincere way, is pleading with people to understand that he wants to take these actions, but the Israeli efforts over the last year on military grounds have made it impossible for him because he no longer has the capabilities. Much of his capability has been destroyed. He no longer has the basic operational capability. And he's asking for help to get that capability and to get back into the game. He wants to do it. He's committed to doing it. But he wants the help to do it.
KAGAN: Following...
COHEN: And so what you have here is a situation in which the United States' role as the monitor is going to be called into action almost as immediately as they land on the ground here.
KAGAN: Following this week's development with the Israeli helicopter gunships attacking in Gaza, President Bush came out yesterday. He had sharp criticism for both sides and yet the criticism seemed harsher for the Israelis and for Ariel Sharon.
How were those comments playing in Israel when you were there yesterday?
COHEN: Well, the Israelis were not particularly happy to get that criticism. But many Israeli people really want this to go forward. What they understand is that the difference between the actions is that Abu Mazen, the prime minister of the Palestinians, is not directly responsible for the vicious violence that came on the Palestinian side against the Israelis. But it is true that the Israeli violence against the Palestinians is fully authorized by the Israeli government.
And so what they're saying is it's got to stop somewhere and the president is right to try to put the emphasis on getting those who have the authority to put their foot down. And that, first of all, means that the prime minister of Israel has to stop these actions and it also means that Prime Minister Abu Mazen has to stay with his commitments in Aqaba and it means that he has to go forward and try to do everything he can to convince others to stop and to try to make the efforts in the place where he has some capability, which is in Gaza itself.
KAGAN: After having these meetings and having your travels, you're there, you're in the middle of it all. Are you hopeful that that will happen from either side?
COHEN: What I'm convinced of is that the American design of the road map, which puts the emphasis on the monitoring role of a third party, where it's not Israelis making judgments about Palestinians and not Palestinians making judgments about Israelis, but the United States making judgments about both, that is going to be critical and it's going to be critical from the very beginning.
And it's going to be necessary for the president to do exactly what he did yesterday, which is to call the parties on the carpet when they don't do what they have to do to make this peace process work. He started in a very good way yesterday and I think that that's going to show results in the next few days.
KAGAN: Stephen Cohen joining us from Cairo. Thank you, sir.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired June 11, 2003 - 08:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Talking about violence and will it doom the Middle East peace process almost as soon as it was started. Hundreds of Palestinian protesters took to the streets yesterday after a pair of Israeli helicopter attacks. Palestinian sources said that the attacks killed five and injured dozens more.
White House Spokesman Ari Fleischer says President Bush is concerned.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The issue for the president is in the hopeful moments after Aqaba and in the hopeful moments leading up to Aqaba, neither party can afford to take actions that derail the road map, because it's too important to the peace and security and the well being of the Israeli people and the Palestinian people. And that's why the president finds this deeply troubling.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: With us now from Cairo is Stephen Cohen of the Israel Policy Forum.
He has been meeting with leaders on both sides.
Mr. Cohen, welcome.
Thank you for being with us.
STEPHEN COHEN, ISRAEL POLICY FORUM: Good afternoon.
KAGAN: As I understand it, you are fresh out of meetings with Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, also the son of Ariel Sharon.
What did you take out of the meetings with these men?
COHEN: What is clear is that despite the president's initiative in going to Aqaba and going to bring together these leaders, there's still a big gap between them. The Israeli view is that until the Palestinians take concrete actions on the security issue, they are not going to take responsibility for doing their part of the action. And on the other hand, the prime minister of the Palestinians basically, in the most sincere way, is pleading with people to understand that he wants to take these actions, but the Israeli efforts over the last year on military grounds have made it impossible for him because he no longer has the capabilities. Much of his capability has been destroyed. He no longer has the basic operational capability. And he's asking for help to get that capability and to get back into the game. He wants to do it. He's committed to doing it. But he wants the help to do it.
KAGAN: Following...
COHEN: And so what you have here is a situation in which the United States' role as the monitor is going to be called into action almost as immediately as they land on the ground here.
KAGAN: Following this week's development with the Israeli helicopter gunships attacking in Gaza, President Bush came out yesterday. He had sharp criticism for both sides and yet the criticism seemed harsher for the Israelis and for Ariel Sharon.
How were those comments playing in Israel when you were there yesterday?
COHEN: Well, the Israelis were not particularly happy to get that criticism. But many Israeli people really want this to go forward. What they understand is that the difference between the actions is that Abu Mazen, the prime minister of the Palestinians, is not directly responsible for the vicious violence that came on the Palestinian side against the Israelis. But it is true that the Israeli violence against the Palestinians is fully authorized by the Israeli government.
And so what they're saying is it's got to stop somewhere and the president is right to try to put the emphasis on getting those who have the authority to put their foot down. And that, first of all, means that the prime minister of Israel has to stop these actions and it also means that Prime Minister Abu Mazen has to stay with his commitments in Aqaba and it means that he has to go forward and try to do everything he can to convince others to stop and to try to make the efforts in the place where he has some capability, which is in Gaza itself.
KAGAN: After having these meetings and having your travels, you're there, you're in the middle of it all. Are you hopeful that that will happen from either side?
COHEN: What I'm convinced of is that the American design of the road map, which puts the emphasis on the monitoring role of a third party, where it's not Israelis making judgments about Palestinians and not Palestinians making judgments about Israelis, but the United States making judgments about both, that is going to be critical and it's going to be critical from the very beginning.
And it's going to be necessary for the president to do exactly what he did yesterday, which is to call the parties on the carpet when they don't do what they have to do to make this peace process work. He started in a very good way yesterday and I think that that's going to show results in the next few days.
KAGAN: Stephen Cohen joining us from Cairo. Thank you, sir.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
